Arizona family starts outdoor safety foundation after loss of daughter

Prescott family educating others on outdoor safety after daughter's death

After their daughter's car veered off a cliff for unknown reasons, one Arizona family is hoping to educate people on outdoor safety. FOX 10's Nicole Krasean learns more about a foundation called, "The Outdoor Penelope Project."

PRESCOTT, Ariz. - A Prescott family is taking the loss of their daughter and turning it into a way to make the outdoors safer for other kids.

What they're saying:

"Krissy had a lot of life left," said Jinger Cutting, Kris Little's mother.

Kris Little spent much of her 39 years adventuring in the outdoors.

"I mean that girl had a paddleboard, a kayak, two vehicles, one called 'Penelope,' that was her Four-Runner," Cutting said.

The backstory:

Little was driving Penelope along Thumb Butte Road in Prescott when, for unknown reasons, the car veered off a cliff one evening in August of last year.

The daughter died from her injuries, leaving her family wondering how to move forward without her adventurous spirit.

"When Krissy passed, we needed to channel our energy," Cutting said.

Why you should care:

For the past year, Little's loved ones have worked to form "The Outdoor Penelope Project" and finally have the green light to fundraise. The goal of the foundation is to educate people on outdoor safety.

"We have a lot of people relocating from out of the state who don't know how to recreate safely in the outdoors, so there's some teaching mechanisms that we want to implement to help people," Cutting said.

Her mother is also hoping to give peace of mind to the loved ones of adventurers.

"I actually would love to see the ability to have beacons provided to people who wanted to go outside and if they wanted to take off for a week, or a day, or whatever, and have a satellite connection to a family member of theirs," Cutting said.

What's next:

Perhaps the biggest hope, according to Cutting, is the addition of safety features like guardrails along some of Arizona’s steeper roadways.

"That is what started this whole thing is that I really wanted to see those safety rails in areas that there was a 1,000 foot drop, it's so important to have that," Cutting said.

What you can do:

An online auction for the foundation kicks off Nov. 3 at TheOutdoorPenelopeFoundation.org.